Knights of Labor

The Knights of Labor was one of the most powerful American labor unions during the 1880s, led by Terence V. Powderly. The Knights of Labor was founded by Uriah Stephens on 28 December 1869, reaching 28,000 members in 1880 before its membership jumped up to 800,000 members in 1886. The union focused on uplifting the workingman's social and cultural status, the rejection of socialism and anarchism, the accomplishment of an eight-hour work day, and the promotion of republicanism. The union was never well-organized, and it declined after its rapid expansion in the mid-1880s; its decline was linked to the Haymarket affair, and its membership dropped to 100,000 in 1890. After the 1893 panic, the Knights of Labor's importance was terminated, and it's last 50-member union dropped its affiliation in 1949.